My Heart ApprovesBy Melissa Maygrove
Portland, Oregon
1865
Addy climbed out of the stagecoach and wrinkled her nose. Oregon was not as she’d imagined. The muddy town stunk, and, save for a dense wall of pines in the distance, it was practically treeless. She shielded her eyes from the sun and scanned the small crowd standing outside the depot. Which man was her husband?
Her hand shaded her eyes, but there wasn’t one large enough to conceal her disappointment. Three of the men were old enough to be her grandfather. The fourth was dusty and bedraggled, and not very easy on the eye.
Addy’s chest deflated. She’d harbored a modest hope that John Harding would be as handsome and genteel as he’d seemed in his letters. She’d wed him by proxy before leaving Maryland and, whether she liked him
